2008 Champagne: recommendations to go the distance

Hey all, I’ve not tasted a whole lot of champagnes from 2008, but it seems from most reading to have been a classic vintage. Great news for me, as that’s my wedding year.

Looking to build out a case or so of this vintage to save for anniversaries long down the road.

So other than the obvious big house wines, what would everyone here recommend? So far, from tasting, I know that I need to get at least the Cristal and the Pol Roger BdB (haven’t had the WC). Thanks in advance!

magnums magnums magnums

Dom Dom Dom

Veuve GDGD !

Veuve 08
Dom
Chetillons
Cristal
Taittinger CdC
Krug
Veuve GD
Vilmart CDC
Bollinger Grand Annee
Fleur de Passion
Legras St Vincent
Krug 164

The Grande Dame is pretty fantastic right now. I expect the Dom Perignon to also be great. An option might be to buy a few of the Dom now and then plan to buy the P2, P3, etc. as they are released with periodic comparisons between the original disgorgement and the later disgorgement versions. I recommend trying the Comtes de Champagne when it releases as well. Salon? Clos des Goisses? So many great options are going to be out there.

For smaller houses, Pierre Peters Chetilons would be a good bet. I love Gimmonet too. I used to buy Diebolt Vallois Fleur du Passion, but the local market lost it somehow.

I have a soft spot for Dom Rose so will be on the lookout for it when it releases later.

Cheers,
fred

+1 on PP’s Les Chétillons and Clos des Goisses.

Lilbert would be another very good choice for the patient.

Saint Charmant, too. And Gaston Chiquet. And Drappier’s Grande Sendrée.

Pol Roger - Winston Churchill

A bit late to try and find Lilbert and Péters 08s…

It’s a good vintage. With good storage it’s hard to go wrong.

Depends on which anniversaries you mean when you say “long down the road”.

If you’re talking 20th and 25th, then I agree with most of the recommendations. If you are talking your 40th and 50th anniversaries, then you would need to be more selective. And mags would definitely be beneficial.

I would add Pierre Gimonnet Special Club Millesimé de Collection. Had it few years ago but it was way too young. This one needs time to reveal its true nature. It will be a stunner.

So far I don’t see any recommendations that are different, except one or two wines that are less widely tasted maybe, than any other year. Except for current discussion/warnings about Bollinger in the other thread, are there any typical go-to cuvees that people have tasted and recommend staying away from or not to cellar?

I have to admit I wasn’t blown away by Pol Roger BdB or Winston Churhill on sampling, but without repeat and more careful tasting and given the track record of both, I am wary of providing a long-term prediction.

The best Roses I’ve tried to my recollection, if that is of interest, were from Roederer and Pol Roger. I thought both were stunning and had structure for long-term aging.

Deutz cuvee william and amour. Former certainly tends to be very long lived in my experience.

Honestly, my experiences with vintage Pol Roger specifically in bottle rather than mag over the last 5 years would steer me away. Incredible variability and the highs are not that high. Magnum seems to be fine.

It is on the whole, difficult to go wrong with 2008.

Veuve 2008 is probably my buy of the vintage if you can still get it at a reasonable price now (you’ve missed the boat a bit across the board, saving maybe DP and Bolly GA which I’d dodge anyway). Staggeringly good and I think it’ll go a very long way.

Only remaining big gun to come out is Comtes 2008.

Salon isn’t out yet. And will only be in magnum, so it would be a perfect one to lay down for anniversaries decades away…

Or not, if you’re someone who wouldn’t see many more anniversaries after spending that much on a bottle of wine…

I guess Krug, Krug CdM and d’Ambonnay are little guns too. :slight_smile:

Fair enough, there are a few more. Although they could probably be termed BFGs.

you definitely can’t go wrong with Salon if you manage to grab some
8,000 magnums to be released in 2020
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